Rural cell towers needed, says solon
4Ps Partylist Representative Marcelino Libanan is urging telecommunication companies to rollout additional cell towers and signal relay stations in the countryside, saying that rural communities are getting left behind in terms of access to high-speed Internet connectivity badly needed to achieve greater economic productivity.
In separate letters sent to PLDT Inc. president Alfredo Panlilio, Globe Telecom Inc. president Ernest Cu, and DITO Telecommunity Corp. president Ernesto Alberto, Libanan stressed that the density of cell towers and/or signal relay stations in the rural areas makes it hard for micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME) to access the Internet.
“It is strongly requested that your good company immediately establish, commission and activate more cell towers in the countryside to afford our MSME adequate and stable access to the Internet,” Libanan said in his letter, a copy of which was furnished to Gamaliel Cordoba, chief of the National Telecommunications Commission.
Cell towers, or cell sites, host electronic communications equipment and antennae that allow people in surrounding areas to access the Internet using their wireless communication devices such as mobile phones, tablets, laptops and computers.
Libanan said a key program of the Pagtibayin at Palaguin ang Pangkabuhayang Pilipino partylist is “to support and assist the country’s MSME by providing them the necessary tools, technologies, skills and competencies.”
He added that high-value information on livelihood opportunities, entrepreneurial skills development, business linkages and matchings, financing programs, innovative technologies and related resources are now accessible via the Internet.